Operation Enduring Freedom aviator assumes command of Naval Station Mayport where he flew helicopters

There's a new captain in charge of Naval Station Mayport, a New Jersey native who took over the job at a Friday change of command ceremony.

Capt. Brian Binder returns to a base he called home in the 2000s with helicopter squadrons there in a career that also took him to the White House.

As he prepared to pass over command to Binder, Capt. Jason Canfield said that as cliched as it may sound he and his family felt like they had “won the lottery” when they learned he had been assigned to Mayport in July 2019.

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"Quite simply, the people and community have been beyond amazing and the location is superb. I said from Day 1 that I’m not leaving, or at least I’m not going far away," he said. "... A wise man once said, 'Challenges are opportunities in disguise,' and I can tell you the opportunities in Mayport have been endless. Within the first 90 days in command, my team had the opportunity to deal with a CAT 5 Hurricane [Dorian] that had its sights set on Mayport, but thankfully stayed mostly offshore."

For Binder, who said he is "beyond excited" to return home to Mayport, this is where his Navy career blossomed, he said.

"This is truly home for us as our first operation tour in the Navy began at this amazing naval station, flying helicopters from one of our squadrons and forward deploying from multiple warships right out of this basin," Binder said before the ceremony.

Outgoing CO is a Florida native and flying veteran

Canfield is a 1991 Cocoa High School graduate who attended the University of Central Florida, graduating magna cum laude in 1995 with a degree in electrical engineering. After his 2013 graduation from the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, he completed flight training in Pensacola and San Antonio, designated a naval flight officer in early 1997.

Canfield’s flying assignments include two tours with the VQ-1 “World Watchers” and a department head tour with the VQ-2 “Rangers” in Whidbey Island, Wash. He was commanding officer of VQ-1, then served as a catapult and arresting gear officer on the USS Theodore Roosevelt out of Norfolk, Va.

Canfield’s shore assignments included tours as electronic reconnaissance weapons and tactics instructor and director of Navy Concepts at Navy Warfare Development Command in Norfolk. He received two Defense Meritorious Service medals, as well as six Navy Commendations before his July 2019 appointment to Mayport.

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During his three-year tenure, he provided support for 80 tenant commands and 2,267 ships and submarines, some from foreign ports. There were $1 million in upgrades to port operations maintenance programs and another $2.3 million in structural repairs and upgrades to heavy weather mooring fixtures at Mayport.

"The best comparison for commanding a shore installation is that it is a bit like being the mayor of a small city," Canfield said. "... This small city has 11,000 sailors and civilians working on the base, with 1,000 under my charge and 10 percent of the U.S. Navy stationed here. There’s a lot going on."

Canfield's new assignment doesn't take him too far from Mayport, as he has accepted orders to Naval Air Station Jacksonville as part of the Navy Region Southeast admiral staff.

New CO's early duty was at Mayport

Binder graduated in 1998 with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in mechanical engineering, then earned an Executive Master of Business Administration from the Naval Post Graduate School in California. Designated a naval aviator in 2000, his early assignments included three tours with Helicopter Maritime Strike 72 out of Jacksonville and another with Helicopter Maritime Strike 37 in Hawaii.

Deployed on the USS Vicksburg in support of the John F. Kennedy Battle Group during Operation Enduring Freedom, he then joined the U. S. Southern Command aboard the USS Stephen W. Groves in support of counter-illicit trafficking efforts.

In 2011 Binder was assigned to the White House Drug Policy Office while serving as the European, African and United Nations policy analyst and coordinated interagency development of national drug control strategies from 2012 to 2014. In 2015 he was assigned to the “Proud Warriors” of HSM-72 and deployed twice with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group as both the executive and commanding officer for two air wings.

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In 2018 Binder was back in Washington at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, then became its Rotary Aircraft Branch head two years later. He has flown more than 3,000 hours in multiple aircraft, earning the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and others.

"Skipper Canfield is an exceptional leader who has well-positioned this great naval station for continued future success," Binder said of his predecessor. "He’ll be the first to tell you it’s the Naval Station Mayport team that deserves all the accolades, and he’s right.  I’m truly humbled and honored to lead this world-class team of women and men."

Navy Region Southeast Rear Adm. Wesley McCall was the guest speaker at the ceremony.

dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Capt. Brian Binder assumes command of Naval Station Mayport